'It Shouldn't Be This Hard': Exploring the Challenges of Rural Health Research.

Health research is important for innovation and assessment of health status and health interventions, and maintaining a strong, engaged cohort of rural health researchers is essential for the ongoing improvement of the health of rural populations. Ethical guidelines and processes ensure research is undertaken in a way that protects and, where possible, empowers participants. We set out to systematically examine and document the challenges posed by ethics and governance processes for rural health researchers in Western Australia (WA) and the impact on the research undertaken. In this qualitative study, fifteen WA-based rural health researchers were interviewed. The identified challenges included inefficient systems, gatekeeping, apparent resistance to research and the lack of research experience of those involved in approval processes. For researchers seeking to conduct studies to improve rural and Aboriginal health, extended delays in approvals can hold up and impede research, ultimately changing the nature of the research undertaken and constraining the willingness of practitioners and researchers to undertake health research. Unwieldy ethics processes were seen to have a particularly onerous impact on rural research pertaining to service delivery, multiple sites, and research involving Aboriginal people, impeding innovation and inquiry in areas where it is much needed.

A Pragmatic Review to Assist Planning and Practice in Delivering Nutrition Education to Indigenous Youth.

Many health promotion campaigns have incorporated multi-component nutrition interventions to promote healthy diet-related behaviours among Indigenous communities, particularly children and adolescents. However, these campaigns show mixed results and while research often describes outcomes of approaches and interventions, it does not extensively describe implementation processes and best practices for nutrition education for Indigenous youth. To enhance knowledge and understanding of best processes in nutritional education approaches with Indigenous youth, we conducted a search using multiple databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet and Australian government research databases to identify relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature as well as educational resources, such as websites and handbooks for teachers, parents, and students. We list and describe common features of successful nutritional interventions in Indigenous settings, steps for nutrition education targeting youth, school-based nutrition education for different ages, and general guidelines for teaching Indigenous students. Current best practice and knowledge gaps for the delivery of nutrition education to Indigenous youth are described.